Politics, life, music and other stuff from someone who doesn't know anything.

Friday, November 11, 2005

WWI Vets Almost All Gone

The last World War One vet that I knew died about ten years ago at something like age 102. Sadly, by the time I knew him, he was already too far gone mentally to be a source of any stories. I did know he served one the ground in France but that’s about it.

With that in mind today, I was interested to see this story about how there are almost no U.S. WWI vets left alive.

Today, the Veterans Affairs Department lists just eight veterans as receiving disability benefits or pension compensation from service in World War I. It says a few dozen other veterans of the war probably are alive, too, but the government does not keep a comprehensive list.

The Census Bureau stopped asking for data about those veterans years ago. Using a report of 65,000 alive in 1990 as a baseline, the VA estimates that no more than 50 remain, perhaps as few as 30.

It’s sad that these vets of the war that was supposed to end all wars, despite living well past 100 years of age, didn’t live long enough to see the real end of wars.